Crunch Time Cookies

Happy Holidays, D.R.A.G.O.N.S., from both of us at Muggle Food and our friend Diana of Culinary Gradventures!

Harry and his friends visit Hogsmeade for a butterbeer and some Honeydukes treats at the end of the term. Unfortunately, we can’t do that, so we started our own end-of-term tradition.

We call them Crunch Time Cookies — because we always make them at “crunch time” (the beginning of finals), and the cookies have a special crunch!

What’s the secret?

Pretzel M&Ms and chocolate covered espresso beans!

And a healthy dose of oats and peanut butter to provide protein and fiber to fill you up and keep your brain going strong.

We have now made these cookies three times, at the end of each of our three semesters. Each time we have used a different base cookie recipe. The first time, they were very flat and chewy. They looked like this:

The second time they were much puffier but became dry and hard rather quickly.

This last time was our favorite yet! We based them on these cookies, doubled with some alterations. They turned out fabulously soft and chewy, hearty, sweet and salty, with just enough crunch. This cookie gets an A+ in our book.

Crunch Time Cookies

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking soda

2 teaspoons salt

2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter, softened

1 cup creamy peanut butter

1 cup granulated sugar

2/3 cup light brown sugar

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

2 eggs

3/4 cup quick oats

1/2 cup rolled oats

1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

2 sharing size (2.83 oz.) bags of pretzel M&Ms

2 cups chocolate covered espresso beans

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Whisk together flour, baking soda and salt.

In another bowl, cream together butter and peanut butter until completely smooth.